21 Animals That Live in Joshua Tree National Park
It looks empty at noon. Come back at dawn or dusk and the desert is busy with life, from bighorn sheep on the ridges to tarantulas on the trail.
Joshua Tree National Park covers nearly 800,000 acres of southern California, and it sits on a boundary. The western half is Mojave Desert, high, cooler and studded with Joshua trees and granite boulders. The eastern half drops into the Colorado Desert, a lower and hotter country of creosote bush, ocotillo and cholla cactus. Each desert has its own community of animals, and the park holds both.
Water decides everything here. A few inches of rain fall in a year, summer afternoons pass 100 degrees, and the ground itself can be far hotter than the air. The animals that live here cope in three ways: they hide underground through the heat, they come out at night, or they have bodies built to waste almost no water at all.
That is why a visitor who arrives at midday sees little more than a lizard and a raven. The first two hours after sunrise and the last hour before dark are when the desert wakes up. Spring, from March through May, is the best season of all.
Here are 21 residents worth knowing, and where to find them.
Read all the way to the end. We save the one that walks across the road on autumn evenings for last.
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Mammal
1. Desert bighorn sheep
Have you seen one?The park's largest native animal is a stocky, sand-colored sheep with a white rump. Rams weigh up to about 200 pounds and carry heavy curled horns, while ewes have short, slender spikes. A couple of hundred live here in separate herds, in the Eagle Mountains, the Little San Bernardino Mountains and the Wonderland of Rocks.
Bighorn climb slopes that look impossible, gripping rock with hooves that have a hard outer rim and a soft, rubbery center. In cool weather they go for days or weeks without drinking, and they can lose a large share of their body water and recover it in a few minutes at a pool.
AdvertisementWhere to lookScan the ridgelines above Barker Dam and around the Wonderland of Rocks early in the morning, and look for the white rump first. -
Mammal
2. Coyote
Have you seen one?The desert coyote is smaller and paler than its northern relatives, usually 20 to 30 pounds, with a narrow muzzle, large ears and a bushy, black-tipped tail carried low. It eats whatever the season offers: rabbits, rodents, lizards, insects, cactus fruit and the dates that drop from palms at the oases.
Coyotes are heard far more often than seen. The evening chorus of yips and howls carries for miles, and two or three animals can sound like a dozen. They are active at any hour in winter and mostly at night in summer.
AdvertisementWhere to lookWatch roadsides and campground edges at dusk, especially in Hidden Valley and Queen Valley. Never feed one, because a fed coyote soon becomes a bold one. -
Mammal
3. Black-tailed jackrabbit
Have you seen one?Despite its name this is a hare, not a rabbit. Its young are born fully furred with their eyes open. Adults are lean and long-legged, with black-tipped ears up to six or seven inches long and a black stripe on the tail.
Those enormous ears are radiators. They are laced with blood vessels that shed body heat into the air when the animal rests in shade, which saves the water it would otherwise lose by panting. A jackrabbit spends the day in a shallow scrape under a bush and relies on speed when found, sprinting at 35 miles an hour in long, zigzag bounds.
AdvertisementWhere to lookDrive slowly across the open flats of Queen Valley and Lost Horse Valley in the cooler hours and watch for ears above the brush. -
Mammal
4. Desert cottontail
Have you seen one?The cottontail is the true rabbit of the park. It is about half the size of a jackrabbit, rounder, with shorter ears and the white puff of a tail that gives it its name. Its young are born blind and hairless in a fur-lined nest.
Cottontails never stray far from cover. They feed on grasses, mesquite leaves and cactus pads at dawn and dusk, and rarely need to drink. When danger appears they freeze, then dash for the nearest burrow or rock pile, flashing the white tail. Nearly every predator in the park eats them, and few live beyond two years.
AdvertisementWhere to lookCheck the brushy edges of campgrounds such as Black Rock, Indian Cove and Cottonwood just after sunrise. -
Mammal
5. White-tailed antelope squirrel
Have you seen one?This small ground squirrel has a white stripe along each side and looks much like a chipmunk, but its face is plain. It is one of the few mammals active in the full heat of a desert day.
It manages this with two tricks. It runs with its tail curled over its back, white underside up, as a sunshade. And it lets its body temperature climb well above 100 degrees, then darts into a burrow or a patch of shade, presses its belly flat against cool soil and dumps the heat. It gets most of its water from seeds, green plants and insects.
Where to lookLook for it darting between rocks and shrubs almost anywhere, including the picnic areas at Hidden Valley and Jumbo Rocks.Advertisement -
Mammal
6. Kangaroo rat
Have you seen one?Merriam's kangaroo rat is a small, big-eyed rodent that hops on long hind legs and balances with a tufted tail longer than its body. It can leap several feet in a single bound to dodge an owl or a snake.
It is the park's champion of water saving. A kangaroo rat can live its whole life without drinking. It makes water inside its body as it digests dry seeds, its kidneys produce urine several times more concentrated than ours, and it spends the day in a sealed, humid burrow. It carries seeds home in fur-lined cheek pouches that open on the outside of its face.
Where to lookWalk sandy ground near the campgrounds after dark with a flashlight held low, and watch for a small shape bouncing away.Advertisement -
Mammal
7. Bobcat
Have you seen one?A bobcat is about twice the size of a house cat, usually 15 to 25 pounds, with long legs, a spotted tawny coat, tufted ears and a short tail that is black on top at the tip. It is common in the park and seldom seen.
Bobcats hunt by patience. They sit beside a rabbit trail or a rock pile, then cover the last few yards in a rush. Rabbits and rodents make up most of the diet, along with quail and lizards. They rest through the day in rock shelters and get much of their water from prey.
Where to lookTry rocky washes and boulder piles at dusk, particularly around Barker Dam and the oases, where water draws their prey. -
Mammal
8. Kit fox
Have you seen one?The kit fox is the smallest wild member of the dog family in North America. It weighs about four or five pounds, less than most house cats, and has very large ears, a slim gray-buff body and a black-tipped tail.
AdvertisementIt is strictly a creature of the night. The big ears pick up the faint scratching of kangaroo rats, its main prey, and hair on the soles of its feet gives grip on loose sand. A kit fox uses many dens over a year and spends every hot day underground. It needs no drinking water at all, taking what it needs from its food.
Where to lookWatch for one crossing the road after dark in the open creosote flats of the Pinto Basin and along the road to Cottonwood. -
Mammal
9. Mountain lion
Have you seen one?The park's top predator is a large, plain tan cat with a long, heavy tail tipped in black. Males weigh 110 to 150 pounds and females rather less. They live mainly in the higher western mountains, where mule deer and bighorn are found.
AdvertisementA mountain lion hunts alone, usually at night, stalking close and killing with a bite to the neck. One lion ranges over a hundred square miles or more, so the park holds only a small number. They avoid people, and most rangers go years without seeing one.
Where to lookYou are far more likely to find tracks than the animal. Look in the damp sand of washes for a four-toed print about three inches wide, with no claw marks. -
Reptile
10. Desert tortoise
Have you seen one?The Mojave desert tortoise has a high, domed brown shell up to about 14 inches long and stout, elephant-like legs. It has been listed as a threatened species since 1990, and its numbers have fallen sharply across the Mojave.
AdvertisementA tortoise spends about 95 percent of its life in a burrow, escaping both summer heat and winter cold. It feeds on wildflowers and grasses in spring and stores water in its bladder for the dry months ahead. A frightened tortoise empties that bladder, and in a drought the loss can kill it. That is the reason never to pick one up. They can live 50 years or more.
A desert tortoise carries its water supply for the year inside its own body, and a single fright can cost it all of it.
Where to lookLook on spring mornings, especially after rain, in the flats of the Pinto Basin. Watch from a distance, and check under your car before driving off, because tortoises rest in its shade. -
Reptile
11. Chuckwalla
Have you seen one?The chuckwalla is a big, flat, potbellied lizard, up to 16 inches long, with loose folds of skin around the neck and sides. Males are dark with a paler, often reddish or yellowish back and tail. Only the Gila monster is larger among lizards in the United States.
AdvertisementIt is a strict vegetarian that eats leaves, flowers and fruit. Its defense is famous. When threatened it runs into a rock crack and gulps air, inflating its body until it is wedged so tightly that no coyote or hawk can pull it out.
Where to lookScan the tops of boulders on warm mornings from spring to early fall, when chuckwallas bask in plain view. The rock piles at Jumbo Rocks and Indian Cove are reliable. -
Reptile
12. Desert iguana
Have you seen one?This is a pale, cream-colored lizard with a tan netted pattern, a small rounded head and a very long tail. Adults reach about 16 inches, most of it tail, and a row of slightly raised scales runs down the back.
AdvertisementNo lizard in the park tolerates more heat. Desert iguanas stay active with body temperatures around 110 degrees and above, long after other lizards have gone to shade. They live around creosote bushes, climbing into the branches to eat the yellow flowers and sheltering in burrows among the roots.
Where to lookLook around creosote bushes in the low desert between the Cholla Cactus Garden and Cottonwood on hot, sunny days. -
Reptile
13. Side-blotched lizard
Have you seen one?This small brown lizard, only four or five inches long with its tail, is the one you will see more than any other. The name comes from a dark blotch on each side just behind the front leg.
It is active in every month, basking on rocks even on mild winter days. Most live only about a year. Males come in three types marked by throat color, orange, blue or yellow, and each uses a different strategy to win mates: one holds a large territory, one guards a single female, and one sneaks. Each beats one rival and loses to the other, like the game of rock, paper, scissors.
AdvertisementWhere to lookWatch any sunny rock or trail edge in the park. You will usually see one within the first few minutes of a walk. -
Reptile
14. Mojave rattlesnake
Have you seen one?Several kinds of rattlesnake live in the park, and the Mojave is the one to respect most. It is a heavy-bodied snake, usually three to four feet long, often with a greenish tint, a row of diamonds down the back and a tail banded in black and white, with the white bands the wider.
Its venom is among the most potent of any North American snake, because many individuals carry a nerve toxin as well as the tissue-damaging venom common to rattlesnakes. Bites are rare and almost always follow an attempt to handle or kill the snake. Rattlesnakes hunt rodents by night in summer and bask by day in spring and fall.
AdvertisementWhere to lookWatch where you put your hands and feet, never reach into a crack you cannot see into, and give any snake at least ten feet of room. It will leave if you let it. -
Reptile
15. Red-spotted toad
Have you seen one?Strictly an amphibian, this small toad is two to three inches long, flat-bodied and gray or olive with small red or orange warts. Its flat shape lets it squeeze into rock crevices, where it waits out dry weather for months.
After summer thunderstorms it appears as if from nowhere. Males gather at pools and give a high, long trill that sounds like a cricket. Eggs are laid one at a time and not in strings, and the tadpoles must grow into toadlets within a few weeks, before the pool dries.
AdvertisementWhere to lookListen near pools and seeps on warm nights after rain, around Barker Dam, Fortynine Palms Oasis and Cottonwood Spring. -
Bird
16. Greater roadrunner
Have you seen one?The roadrunner is a ground-dwelling cuckoo nearly two feet long, streaked brown and white, with a shaggy crest, a long tail and a patch of blue and orange bare skin behind the eye. Its tracks form an X, with two toes pointing forward and two back.
It can fly but prefers to run, reaching about 20 miles an hour. It eats lizards, insects, scorpions, small birds and snakes, including young rattlesnakes, which it kills by beating them against a rock. On cold mornings it turns its back to the sun and raises its feathers to expose black skin that soaks up heat.
AdvertisementA roadrunner starts a cold morning by raising its feathers and using its own black skin as a solar panel.
Where to lookWatch road edges, campgrounds and visitor center parking lots, particularly at Cottonwood and the Oasis of Mara. -
Bird
17. Gambel's quail
Have you seen one?This plump gray bird has a black, comma-shaped plume that bobs forward over its forehead. Males have a black face, a chestnut cap and a black patch on a cream belly, while females are plainer.
Gambel's quail live in groups called coveys, walking in single file through the brush and calling to keep in touch. They would sooner run than fly. In spring a pair may lead a dozen chicks, which leave the nest within hours of hatching and feed themselves from the first day. Seeds, leaves and cactus fruit provide much of their water.
Where to lookLook near brush and water in the early morning at the Oasis of Mara, Cottonwood Spring and Black Rock Canyon.Advertisement -
Bird
18. Cactus wren
Have you seen one?At seven to eight inches long this is the largest wren in the United States. It is boldly spotted on the breast, with a white stripe over the eye and a slightly curved bill. Its song is a harsh, low chugging, like a car that will not start.
Cactus wrens build bulky, football-shaped nests of grass with a side entrance, usually in the spiny arms of a cholla or a Joshua tree, where few predators dare follow. They build extra nests to sleep in all year. They almost never drink, getting their water from insects and fruit.
Where to lookSearch cholla cactus and Joshua trees for the untidy grass nests, then wait. The owner is seldom far away. -
Bird
19. Scott's oriole
Have you seen one?The male is one of the park's most handsome birds, with a black head, back and chest set against a lemon-yellow belly and shoulders. Females are olive and dull yellow. The song is a rich, clear whistle, much like a meadowlark's.
AdvertisementThis oriole is tied to yuccas. It arrives in spring, sips nectar from the flowers, picks insects from the leaves and weaves a hanging basket nest sewn to the underside of Joshua tree leaves with fibers stripped from the plant itself. Most leave for Mexico by the end of summer.
Where to lookListen for males singing from the tops of Joshua trees from April through June in Queen Valley, Lost Horse Valley and Black Rock Canyon. -
Bird
20. Great horned owl
Have you seen one?The park's top night hunter is a big, barrel-shaped owl with feathered ear tufts, yellow eyes and a wingspan of about four feet. Soft, fringed flight feathers let it fly almost without sound.
AdvertisementIt takes rabbits, kangaroo rats, snakes and even skunks, striking with talons that grip with crushing force. Great horned owls do not build nests. They take over old hawk or raven nests in Joshua trees or use ledges in the rocks, and they begin nesting in the middle of winter, so the young are hunting by the time prey is plentiful.
Where to lookListen for a deep series of five or so hoots just after sunset, and look for the outline on top of a boulder or a Joshua tree against the last light. -
Invertebrate
21. Desert tarantula
Have you seen one?This is a large, hairy, brown spider with a leg span of three to four inches. It is slow, shy and harmless to people. A bite is rare and no worse than a bee sting, though the fine hairs it flicks from its abdomen can irritate skin and eyes.
AdvertisementTarantulas live in silk-lined burrows and ambush insects at the entrance by night. Females stay in or near the same burrow for life and can live 20 years or more. Males take the better part of a decade to mature, then leave home in fall to wander in search of a mate, and die within months.
Where to lookWatch roads and trails on warm evenings in September and October, when wandering males cross in the open. Step around them and drive with care.
The short version
Go early, go late, move slowly and bring binoculars. The cool hours at each end of the day are when nearly everything on this list is moving, and a quiet half hour beside water at Barker Dam, Cottonwood Spring or the Oasis of Mara will show you more than a full day of driving at noon. Spring brings the most activity, and warm nights after summer rain bring out the toads, snakes and kangaroo rats.
Keep your distance, and never feed anything. Fed animals lose their fear of people and are often hit on the roads. Leave tortoises alone, give snakes room, stay on trails, and drive slowly at dawn, dusk and after dark, when wildlife is crossing.
Finally, look after yourself. Carry far more water than you think you need, at least a gallon per person per day, and remember that the animals here have had thousands of generations to adapt to this place. You have not.
Last updated . This article is for general information. Wild animals are unpredictable, so follow local wildlife and park guidance.
